讓生命的福音活出生命來

摘要

聽到生命之道之後,要活出生命來。



歌羅西書 3:5–6 所以,要治死你們在地上的肢體,就如淫亂、污穢、邪情、惡慾,和貪婪(貪婪就與拜偶像一樣)。因這些事,上帝的忿怒必臨到那悖逆之子。

在此,我們聽到聖保羅力勸基督徒成就真的基督徒的善工,即結出信心的果子。他在講道裡以基督的復活為源動力,向我們宣告深刻的恩典和安慰。因著基督的復活,我們得到罪的赦免,免受永死的刑罰。
但是,我們應當在我們內心測試基督的復活,為要察看我們是否正確地將其放在我們心中,以免我們肉體的私心欺騙我們:以為當我們聽到這福音時,這一切都立刻自動發生了,或以為藉著復活給我們的寶藏都已經消耗殆盡了。

2. 這些都不能只停留在文字上而已。基督的目的不是我們聽聽說說而已。我們要感受到這復活正活在我們的生命裡。如果我們向著死人講論生命的道,而他沒有因此活過來,又有什麼益處呢?或向罪人傳講公義,而他仍活在罪中?或向錯誤的教派講真理,而他們並不終止錯誤和黑暗?所以,如果我們的心在聽了這榮耀的、充滿祝福的、復活的安慰之後,卻沒有感受,只把福音當成舌上飛沫、耳中聲響之外,再沒有什麼了,猶如那些從未聽過福音之人一般,那麼就不僅是無用的,更是有害的、當咒詛的。——馬丁路德(復活節星期三的講道:歌羅西書3:1-7,1544年)(AE 77:103 from Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, MO)


Let The Gospel of Resurrection Make You Alive
Colossians 3:5–6 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

In this text we hear St. Paul admonishing the Christians to true Christian good works or the fruits of faith. He takes the motive for this sermon from the resurrection of Christ, which proclaims profound grace and comfort to us, so that through it we would have the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from eternal death. But lest thoughtless, fleshly hearts imagine that everything happens at once in us and that the treasure (which is given to us through the resurrection) is completely exhausted when we have heard it once, and lest we thus deceive ourselves, he always preaches in addition that we should test the resurrection of Christ in ourselves, specifically whether we have correctly laid hold of it in our hearts.
2. It should not remain only in words. Christ’s aim is not that we would hear and speak of them, but that we would feel them in our lives. How does it help if we preach much about life to a dead man, if he does not become alive from it? Or about righteousness to a sinner, if he still remains in sin? Or about truth to an erring sectarian, if he does not desist from his error and darkness? So also it is not only useless but also harmful and damnable to hear about the glorious and blessed comfort of the resurrection if the heart never experiences it, but all that remains is the sound in the ears or the foam on the tongue, and nothing more follows from it than does among those who have never heard about it. (AE 77:103 from Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, MO)


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